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Entrepreneur Roallercoaster
There are millions of stories behind great inventions,
businesses and enterprises. Most of those stories start with a
question:
Entrepreneurship means changing the way we think about what is
possible. It is having a clear vision of how life could be bet-ter,
finding new ways to solve old problems. This is what en-trepreneurs
are: detectives of needs and desires in the market; chefs who find
a new and interesting way of mixing ingredients or resources;
jewelers who can grab a rock and transform it into something
valuable and unique. Basically, entrepreneurs are agents in charge
of change.
But, to actually make a change and consolidate an
entrepre-neurial project, there are several steps you need to go
through. Like a rollercoaster. It is not a linear ride still, one
can go back and forth through the different stages, and some people
may take more time than others in moving on to the next stage. The
entrepreneur rollercoaster is a wild ride with dramatic highs and
lows, but it is your choice to scream or enjoy the ride.
Does it always have to be like this?
This is wrong It should be this way
Or a statement
Buckle up and find out what the entrepreneurexperiences are
along the way!
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Entrepreneur Roallercoaster
Click on each stage icon to read about it.
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UNINFORMED OPTIMISM
STAGE # 2
ILLUMINATION
STAGE # 1
ACTION
STAGE # 3
INFORMED PESSIMISM
STAGE # 4
CRISIS OF MEANING
STAGE # 5
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
STAGE # 6
References
Entrepreneurs ID
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Entrepreneurs ID:
GRANIELLO PREZLast name
NameEDUARDODate of birth1973
G203417GDS1946
Name: Eduardo Graniello PrezNickname: GuayoAge: 41 yearsStudies:
Computing Systems Degree and Master in Business Administration from
the Tecnolgico de Monterrey University.Place of birth: El
SalvadorFamily: Wife and four childrenHobbies: Music, basketball
and partiesFavorite books: Good to Great from Jim Collins; Art of
War from Sun Tzu and The Little Prince from Antoine de
Saint-Exupry.Favorite movies: Shawshank Redemption, Rudy and The
Usual Suspects.Three persons he admires: My wife because of her
seren-ity, my mother because of her passion and my father for being
street smart.
Favorite place to travel: The beach.How does he relax: With his
kidsWhat did he want to do when he grew up? To own a factory.What
does he plan to do when he retires? Enjoy his family and his
friends; have some time for himself.His vices: Work and
parties.What makes him laugh?: His kids and his friends.Best
strength: His Friendliness Worst weakness: Being very
emotional.
(Endeavor, 2012: 109)
Let us discover what his story is about.
In order to understand the different stages of entrepreneurship
and the general profile of entrepreneurs, we will be studying
Eduardo Graniello s roller-coaster ride (Endeavor, 2012:
103-123).
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Stage # 1
The first stage of the entrepreneurial journey is illumination.
That is what drives someone to get on the rollercoaster. At this
stage, the individual is undergoing an important realization that
creating a company, working for themselves, or being an
entrepreneur is something they are interested in doing (Startup
Weekend, n.d.: 3). This is most likely where you are now.
THE CAsETHE ENTrEprENEurs viTAlsIn 1994 Eduardo had just
graduated from college in Monterrey,
Mxico and moved to the United States to improve his English. His
father had given him just enough economic support to fin-ish
college so, when he moved, he ended up washing cars and waitering
at a restaurant for six months in order to pay for his classes.
Without question, an experience I would live again as he said,
since those were the foundations for the life of hard and constant
work that awaited for him along his entrepreneurial career. When he
returned to Monterrey, he started working at the nowa-days
non-existing business: MAS, where he learned about the market of
business intelligence solutions; the strategies direct-ed to the
creation and administration of knowledge through an
organizations data analysis. He worked there for five years; at
that time he discovered the importance of strengthening his
knowledge giving it to the communitys service. Between 1996 and
1999, Eduardo studied a Master in Business Administration at the
Instituto Tecnolgico y de Estudios Supe-riores de Monterrey
(ITESM), where he also started teaching. It was then when Eduardos
life gave a huge spin. He quit his job.What he wanted was to
transform organizations through ser-vices aiming at design and
implementation for business strat-egy and process, human capital
management and the correct application of ICTs. He made that
decision mainly because the entrepreneur within himself knew that
he was not going to ac-complish his goal where he was currently
working, and secondly because by combining the effort and
accomplishments he could have in this new business, he would have a
positive impact on more people. (Endeavor, 2012: 113,114).
Motivation level: HighKey personal skill: Proactivity
In order to be an entrepreneur first you must have the drive and
dedication to pursue a dream or a goal set before you. You need to
have initiative and be hard working. You have to work hard and work
long hours to make your business a success. You also have to be
able to react quickly to change so that you can take advantage of
opportunities that come your way and be able to efficiently take
care of any problems that may arise.
Illumination
I want to be an entrepreneur.
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Stage # 2
Even though it is like being blinded, it is the first and most
im-portant stage to actually start an entrepreneurship journey:
am-bition. If you have it, you will go ahead and make it your fuel
through the ups and downs.
When one starts off as an entrepreneur, almost nothing is known.
Despite knowing thisthat what helps in success is unknownand that
the mortality rate of new ventures is frighteningly high, a lot of
us still become entrepreneurs. Perhaps, this is more true about
entrepreneurship than any other initiative one takes in life. And
no, it is not on account of any death wish; it is the thrill, the
joy of initiating, leading, guiding and participating in a journey
into the unknown and figuring out a whole lot of stuff that you
never knew before, of business, markets, people but, most of all,
about yourself (Nair, 2013).
THE CAsE
THE ENTrEprENEurs viTAls
When Eduardo founded Intellego, he did not do a market re-search
before starting the company. The objective of this new business was
not only to sell products to certain technology firms - as I did as
an employee at MAS -but to give clients a solution through an
integral service he explains.When he started, he only followed his
instincts, because he re-
Motivation level: HighKey personal skill: Self-confidence
Self-confidence is a key entrepreneurial trait. You have to be
crazy-sure your product or service is something the world needs and
that you can deliver it to overcome the naysayers, who will always
deride what the majority has yet to validate (Robinson, 2014).
Researchers define this trait as task-specific confidence. It is
a belief that turns the risk proposition around--youve conducted
enough research and have enough confidence that you can get the job
done that you ameliorate the risk (Robinson, 2014).You have to have
a lot of self-confidence. Be willing to take a risk, but be
conservative, says Jason Apfel, founder of Fra-granceNet.com, an
e-commerce site for beauty products. Apfel didnt know anything
about the beauty world when he started the company, but he believed
he could create a solid website to sell such products. I thought
selling a commodity online at the most competitive price would
work, he says. His company has outlasted well-funded competitors
and sees $145 million in annual sales (Robinson, 2014).
Uninformed Optimisim
This guy doesnt have a clue what he s in for.
NEXT
ally thought that there was an opportunity in exploring through
the foundation of a company specialized in data, information and
contents for corporate market management and consul-tancy. This
unconsciousness about the real market was the en-gine which
motivated him to create Intellego in 1999 (Endeavor, 2012:
114).
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Stage # 3
At this stage, entrepreneurs are learning how to share their
ide-as and attract support from other people. Individuals should be
seeking the right co-founders and team members, learning how to
evaluate the potential value of their idea, developing an
understanding of the problem they are solving (and who they are
solving it for), and discovering the tools and methodologies needed
to help manage progress, etc (Startup Weekend, n.d.: 4).
THE CAsE THE ENTrEprENEurs viTAlsAlways surrounded by people who
helped him materialize his entrepreneurial dream, Eduardo received
help from a key ally when starting: Antonio Donado, who was his
teacher in college. During the first year of operations in
Intellego, he supported with infrastructure, from offices to
administrative and financial sup-port. By the end of that period,
Eduardo became totally inde-pendent and closed his first deal with
the clothes division of Famsa1, in Monterrey.By getting in touch
with another director at Famsa during the implementation phase of
the project, he managed to get a con-tract from the furniture
division (the biggest one of the company)
1 For more information about Famsa, we invite you to visit their
website: http://www.famsa.com/
Motivation level: HighKey personal skill: Street-smart
Street-smart is the person who just gets it spontaneously.
Street-smart people know instinctually how customers buy and how to
excite them. They have a sixth sense for the competi-tors
weaknesses. They spot opportunities that arent being met and design
products to meet those needs. It never occurs to them to play by
the same rules as everybody else; in fact, Im not sure if they even
know what the rules are. That fact leads many of these people to be
more street smart than those de-fined by convention (Suster,
2009).
Action
I am creating.
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for a second project. With that he was able to generate enough
income to cover the fixed costs of Intellego, to keep attracting
talent and financial impulse for new deals.
In 2001, by means of a good friend, Eduardo sold his first
pro-ject to the Federal Government. Besides the project in Mexico
City, he was invited to work in a project called The War Room, from
Mexican Presidencys Office. Thanks to what he learned from that
experience, he was offered a permanent job during the
implementation of the project. That made the Federal Govern-ment,
Intellegos main client, starting to work with more robust
technologies. (Endeavor, 2012: 115)
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Stage # 4
Reality sets in. The entrepreneur realizes his business idea
isnt perfect, or may not even be good.
THE CAsE
THE ENTrEprENEurs viTAls
The business was going well, but in a pursuit for sustained
growth, Eduardo participated in the selection process of En-deavor
Entrepreneurs in 2006. Each year, Endeavor analyses hundreds of
entrepreneurs with a high growth potential. So, he went to the
International Panel in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but he did not end up
selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur. The reason? His business
model was not scalable (Endeavor, 2012: 115, 116).
At this stage, the entrepreneur may experience a compromised
outlook and a slight decrease in motivation.
Motivation level: MediumKey personal skill: Tenacity
Tenacity is probably the most important attribute in an
entrepre-neur. Its the person who never gives up who never accepts
no for an answer. The world is filled with doubters who say that
things cant be done and then pronounce after the fact that they
knew it all along. Look at Google. You think that anybody really
believed in 1999 that two young kids out of Stanford had a shot at
unseating Yahoo?, Excite, Ask Jeeves and Lycos? Yeah, right. Trust
me, whatever you want to build you will be told by most VCs
something like, Social networking has already been done, Youll
never get a telecom carrier deal done, or Bing already has a
product in this area. You will be told by the peo-ple you want to
recruit that they are not sure about joining, by a landlord that
you will need a years deposit or by a potential business
development partner that he is too busy to work with you, come back
in 6 months. Starting a business is an ultra-marathon. You have to
be able to live with uncertainty and push through a crucible of
obstacles for years on end. This trait is known by many
names--perseverance, persistence, determina-tion, commitment,
resilience--but it is really just old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness
(Suster, 2009).
Informed Pessimism
This is not working.
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Stage # 5
This can also be called the startup stage. The entrepreneur has
set out with the right team, a clear problem they are addressing,
and a list of possible solutions. More specifically, startups exist
to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Found-ers
typically have a vision of a solution with a set of hypotheses
about how to achieve that vision. The startup phase also re-quires
a more accurate portrayal of the reality of it. Many envi-sion a
life of luxury, meetings with investors, and endless fun. In
reality, the startup phase is likely to be one of the hardest times
in an entrepreneurs journey. Ask anyone who has been through it;
the startup phase is one of continual frustration, painstaking
hours, endless debates, and a time fraught with failure (Startup
Weekend, n.d.: 5,6).
If you decide to venture and actually ride the entrepreneur
roll-ercoaster, you have reached the stage of discovery. You want
to learn. This step captures the phase in which an individual
begins to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs, mentors or
experts in the field of interest. Identifying with others who also
challenge the traditional notions of success and acknowledge the
potential hazards that lie ahead, is often all that is needed for
the entrepreneur to tackle the path that he hopes to pursue
(Startup Weekend, n.d.: 5).
2. Crash and burn. The entrepreneur will ask himself:
At this point, the entrepreneur may take two possible ways:1.
Ride the entrepreneur rollercoaster and ask himself:
Crisis of Meaning
Whats next? Why me? Where do I go from here?
Can I use this stress for something positive, like growing my
business?
Do I have passion to keep going?
What can I learn from this and how can I make it through these
rough times?
Will I be forced out by circumstances beyond my control?
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This is where entrepreneurs are in great danger, because they
might feel totally disappointed about not achieving what they
expected. Therefore, there are some crucial facts that you need to
remember in order to avoid getting to this stage:
You need to remember that the next big idea, the next best thing
is actually something that is already there but need a better
version of it. Therefore, creativity is a must.
Do not ride the rollercoaster for the wrong reasons. Do not
create a business thinking that someone will buy it right away. You
will need to work on it for several years, make it flourish
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and get important results. Then, you might be able to sell it.
When the time comes, you will consider if selling is your best
option, or not. But this should not be the sole purpose of
start-ing a business. You need something stronger that will make
you hold on in the difficult moments of your rollercoaster.
Most of the times people think that all they have is an amaz-ing
idea and all they need is money for it. In reality, all the
greatest companies of the last ten years had already start-ed the
business and grew traction. And then they got the investors. A mere
idea does not get you money. It is the aspiration to actually have
traction that shows investors as well as yourself that you are
actually on to something.
Be open to change. Take the blinders off. Look around and do not
be afraid to take unusual directions, because that is where you
might find promising opportunities. Do not get obsessed with your
idea.
THE CAsEEduardo decided to put himself together after being
rejected and continued his ride on the rollercoaster. He gathered
infor-mation and feedback which helped him design an action plan to
make his business model scalable. He evaluated and revised internal
processes and the basic structure of the company, for which he
hired an external auditor. If he wanted an exponential growth, he
had to transform Intellego. The answer was in the in-tegration of
his young talent, with experienced talent. He started seeking for
this experts who could help him broaden his solution portfolio and
develop new markets.
By that time, at a family meeting, Eduardo accidentally met the
chilean Felipe Labb, who became interested in Eduardos pro-ject as
soon as he heard that it was related to technology, since Felipe
was then working as the Commercial Director of Hewlett-Packard (HP)
Mxico after having worked for that company for 18 years.
They continued with informal chats during weekend reunions.
Eduardo had the confidence to ask Felipe to participate as a
consultant for Intellego. Even though he refused - to avoid any
conflict of interests between companies -, he accepted informal
invitations to lunch providing him with some advice.
They found out, that Intellego had no structural organization
whatsoever; it was a company growing with no defined course. Felipe
gave some tips that really worked for Eduardo, which also excited
Felipe and interested him even more in the project. After one year
of feedback, Eduardo saw in Felipe not only a good mentor, but a
potential partner who could come to Intellego, bringing along the
structure needed by everybody in the com-pany including Eduardo.
With this in mind, he formally invited him to become part of the
company.
When he got this proposal, an entrepreneurial spark inside
Fe-lipe lit up, stopping to reflect upon his answer. It was not an
easy decision, considering that at the age of 42, being provider of
a family of five (himself, his wife and three kids), giving up the
security of the corporation he was currently working on might have
looked like something crazy. Finally, in 2008 he quit HP and became
business partner of Intellego to define and implement the
commercial strategy. (Endeavor, 2012: 115-117)
Stage # 5 Crisis of Meaning
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THE ENTrEprENEurs viTAlsAt this stage, the entrepreneur may
experience a compromised outlook and a slight decrease in
motivation.
Motivation level: Medium. Danger! It may decrease to a low
level.
Key personal skill: Opportunity focus and purpose.
This classic trait is the definition of risk-taking--the ability
to withstand the fear of uncertainty and potential failure. It all
boils down to being able to successfully manage fear, notes Michael
Sherrod, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Neeley School of Business
at Texas Christian University (Robinson, 2014).
He sees the ability to control fear as the most important trait
of all. Fear of humiliation, fear of missing payroll, running out
of cash, bankruptcy, the list goes on.
Jill Blashack Strahan knows the fear factor. The founder and CEO
of Tastefully Simple1, a direct-sales company for gifts and
easy-to-make meals, remembers the calls to her bank when she was
three months overdue on her mortgage. That fear that I would lose
my house almost controlled me, says Blashack Strahan, who also had
to overcome the deaths of her brother and then her husband shortly
afterward. The night after the fu-
1 For more information about Tastefully Simple, visit their
website: https://www.tastefullysimple.com/
neral of my husband, I thought maybe I should give up, get a job
and be a mom. (Robinson, 2014).
This is where the ultimate entrepreneurial test takes place, on
the mental battlefield. You can go with the fear and quit, or push
through it. I said no; this idea is going to work, Blashack
Stra-han says. We have the power to control our thoughts. When we
commit mentally, our action follows. She made a conscious decision
to push through the fear. Her company had sales in 2012 of $98
million.
While many would feel powerless in the face of such adversity,
the entrepreneur looks at the situation and knows he has some
control over the outcome, says Jonathan Alpert, a psychother-apist
and author of Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days (Robinson,
2014).
Remember, fear is your worst enemy. Risk is your best friend.
Insomnia will become your best friend too.
Purpose is making a difference and making a dent. What drives
you? What motivates you? What actually makes you want to put the
pieces together?.
Stage # 5 Crisis of Meaning
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Stage # 6
This is the stage where the entrepreneur reaches a sustained
success. However, he should not be too confident about riding out
all of the highs and lows, since he will face them again with every
business venture he takes on.
THE CAsE
THE ENTrEprENEurs viTAls
Together, Eduardo and Felipe managed to get the company
op-erating not only in Mexico, but also in Brazil, Chile, Colombia
and the United States. Also, they did not focus in providing
ser-vices to public institutions. Today they count among their
clients Grupo Bimbo, Chedraui, Grupo Presidente, Televisa,
Cable-visin and Banamex; some of the biggest private companies in
Mexico. In total they sum more than 300 clients.This multiplying
effect caused their sales rates to increase 250% from 2008 to
2009.
Motivation level: HighKey personal skill: Passion
One of the defining traits of entrepreneurship is the ability to
spot an opportunity and imagine something where others have not.
Entrepreneurs have a curiosity that identifies overlooked niches
and puts them at the forefront of innovation and emerg-ing fields.
They imagine another world and have the ability to communicate that
vision effectively to investors, customers and staff (Robinson
2014). You will need vision to keep your busi-ness growing and
engage people in it.
Successfull Entrepreneurship
Yes! I did itMeh! The rollercoaster wasnt so bad. I have many
amazing busi-ness ideas! Maybe Ill ride again.
Based on his entrepreneurial journey so far, Eduardo shared the
following advice:
Never stop dreaming. And when you undertake an enter-prise,
believe it, it can be done. But to assure the success, first look
for mentorship to build the necessary foundations - and not the
roof - that accompany that dream of yours. (Endeavor, 2012: 117,
121).
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References
HOME
Endeavor. (2012) Emprendedores Endeavor. La nueva cara de Mxico
IV. Editorial Mapas: Mxico.
Hauser, David. (2010) The Entrepreneur Rollercoaster. Available
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKocnAS345U
Nair, Chandu. (2013) My entrepreneurial journey. Available at
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/DqLRiHqBvBmnFsdbnofrEM/My-entrepreneurial-journey.html?ref=also_read
Robinson, Joe. (2014) The 7 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneur. Available at
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230350
Startup Weekend. (n.d.) The Entrepreneurs Journey. Available at
http://startupweekend.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/12/SW-White-Paper-Entrepreneurs-Journey.pdf
Suster. (2009) What makes an entrepreneur (2/11)- Street smarts.
Both Sides. Available at
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/12/16/what-makes-an-entrepreneur-210-street-smarts/
Suster. (2009) What makes an entrepreneur (1/11)- Tenacity. Both
Sides. Available at
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/12/15/what-makes-an-entrepreneur-111-tenacity/
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